1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to systems for producing adjustable surface contours, such as for control surfaces for aircraft, and more particularly, an adaptive, variable camber compliant system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In early aircraft, wing warping was method used for lateral (roll) control of a fixed-wing aircraft. This technique, which was used by the Wright brothers, essentially consisted of a system of pulleys and cables, which were used to twist the trailing edges of the wings in opposite directions. However, because most wing warping designs involved flexing of structural members, they were difficult to control and liable to cause structural failure. As aircraft further developed, wing warping was replaced by rigid wing structures having a number of flight control surfaces, such as ailerons, leading edge slats, and flaps, for example.
Control surfaces such as ailerons are generally used to control roll, where flaps and slats are generally used to raise the lift coefficient of the wing and reduce the stalling speed of an aircraft, which is desirable during take-off and landing events. While these control surfaces are an improvement over the original wing warping control, they also have drawbacks. The control surfaces create drag during use, which can result in unnecessary fuel consumption. Additional, there are inherent gaps created between the control surfaces and the wing structure, which can add to noise production, which may be undesirable during quiet flight.
Thus, there is a need for an arrangement for varying the dimensions and contours of airfoils so as to optimize same for different flight conditions. Thus, for example, the wings configuration that would be optimum for stable, undisturbed flight, would be different from the wing configuration that would be optimized during take-off and landing. It would additionally be advantageous if the contour of the airfoils adjusted in a manner that is not constant through the length of the airfoil, but which varies, illustratively to form a twist along the control surface of the wing. There is also need for optimizing the configuration and contour of such surfaces in other applications, such as in hydrofoils for water craft and spoilers for high speed land vehicles.